We have always had the idea that the future of virtual instruments was going to be the sound quality of sampling but with the playability of modeling. Getting both with only samples requires too many of them and only with modeling requires too much CPU.

Our model gives you access to a 100% continuous response, a very small sized library (80Mb) and a very high tweakability.

It also ensures that the staccatos and releases that make up for half of the realism sound perfect, not like a fadeout, not too loud, just perfect.

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Front panel

You can mix the acoustic signal (we had a mic pair right over the rhodes capturing the real acoustic sounds of the keys and tines) and the DI Electric signal.

The second concentric knobs, just like on a real suitcase rhodes control Treble and Bass. We measured this carefully and made sure the ranges and frequencies matched the original.

The vibrato (we talk about it more in depth below) has two controls, the depth and the speed. We carefully measured the output of the preamp and copied the real output of each channel. We also added a tempo link as it can be very useful. We also extended the original range as this is a common mod on real Rhodes.

There are two very common FX accessible on the front panel: reverb and drive. You can control their amount from here but if you want further adjustments, you need to go to the FX page.

You can also engage the AMP simulation from the front panel. Again for further adjustments, you need to use the AMP panel.

You can also use one of our presets from here as well as save and import yours.

We captured different microphone positions and distances to cover most of the real life recording placements.

Our AMP simulation is true stereo, meaning that we have a very precise stereo image which is extremely useful when the Vibrato is on.

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AMP panel

There are 4 different microphone positions to choose from, Back, Front, Player, Room, all these are relative to the Suitcase amp and the images shows where the mics were placed. For each of them, you can control the amount of ambience and the distance relative to the amp.

The AMP of a suicase is noisy, and there is no way around it, so we added an AMP noise button so that you can get soe noise from the VTines.

As the Rhodes is sometimes recorded through the DI and through the amp as well, you can control both amounts as well.

The tremolo is a stereo effect that is sent through the suitcase amp which is stereo, the left side is driven by an amp and the right side by another. We modeled that as well and you can hear that the vibrato put through the amp is not a simple right left effect, but a complex true stereo effect that really shows the width of the amp itself.

1- Chorus: based on Torus and you can control the Speed, Depth, Crossover and MIX of it.

2- Phaser: based on Phasor and you can control the speed, the depth and the Spread.

3- Flanger: based on Flanger and you can control the speed, depth and Mix.

4- Wah: based on the WahWah fx and you can use a few different models, have it on auto (by default) or control it using an expression pedal.

5- Delay: based on an Analog Tape delay and you can control the Time, the Feedback and the Mix.

6- Rotary: based on the Rptary effect we used in the B-5 Organ. You can control the Drum/Horn Balance, the Speed of the tremolo or set it to the 3 different speeds. When it's on, it will bypass the Suitcase AMP.

7- Saturation: based on the same Tube saturation used in the B-5 Organ, you can control the drive, the level and also the Bass and treble amount to somehow control which frequencies will be saturated. When set to 0, it is bypassed.

8- Reverb: based on the convolution reverb, you can use wether a String reverb, a plate reverb, or a real room ambience. You can control the time and the dry and wet parameters. Plus you can also use it before the amp like on a live session, or after as if you were adding it to a track in a sequencer. When set to 0, it is bypassed.

All of these fx come pre-amp except for the Reverb that can be set post-amp which can be useful if you want to make it sound like it is often set up on records.

Precise adjustments

Modeling also means customization, you can alter the sound of the V Tines like you would on a real electric piano and in a very easy way.

A real electric piano can be customized with a screwdriver, you basically adjust the angle and distance between the tine and the pickup. It's exactly the same on the V Tines, you just don't need the screwdriver.

You can adjust many different parameters for each note, for all notes or using a mapper for each parameter.

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Preferences panel

On this panel, you can adjust many parameters to shape the sound of the VTines. Here is what each parameter does.

There are only two parameters that are adjusted for the whole library:

1- The pedal volume controls the volume of the sound made by the pedal when you press and depress it.

2- The Bass tines pitch drift can be corrected. On a real rhodes, the torsion of the long tines when you play them hard leads to a pitch drift which may make it sound like it's out of tune. Piano tuners usually have to choose a velocity range to have it in tune with the higher octaves. Since we are using a sample library, we decided to offer the possibility to flatten that pitch drift and make sure it's in tune all the time, no matter the velocity.

The rest of the parameters can be adjusted differently for each note. By default the selection is set to note by note, and any change on the parameters will only be applied to the most recently played note, but you can have it affect all notes, or you can select note by note to modify the parameters using a curve.

a- The repetition control is an effect that happens only on pedal down. When you repeat the same note over and over again with the pedal pressed, the notes don't just stack up, but sometimes they get morte or less cancelled. We created an accurate model of this effect and were abel to reproduce it. That control will control the amount of that effect.

b- The tine heigth is the second component used on a real rhodes to voice it. The height will completely change the tone and amount of overtone (or Bark). There is a sweetspot described in the original Rhodes documentation that is right above the pickup. This allows for the maximum of overtone without loosing too much of the fundamental frequency. This is the main control over the character of a rhodes and with this, it will sound mellower or thinner if you go to the extreme values.

c- Pickup Distance: The distance between the tine and the vibrating tine controls mostly the overall volume of the corresponding note. This, just like on a real one, will help voice the rhodes with more or less Bass and Treble at the note level. In reality, it also controls changes the angle made with the tip of the pickup so it influences the amount of bark and other parameters, but for the ease of use, we limited that knob action to just the volume.

d- The Hi Vel Tone controls how much overtone there is in the highest velocity. The Low Vel Tone controls how much overtone there is in the lowest velocity."

e- The Tone Bend controls the overtone increase with the velocity. For example, if set at the minimum, there will be little overtone for most of the velocities and then quickly increase to the maximum overtone.

f- The Dynamics button controls the volume of the lowest velocity allowing for a greater or smaller dynamic range. It is set by default to the maximum range of the real instrument.

g- Bell amount: The Bell is a known characteristic of the Rhodes pianos, you can adjust how much of it there is in each note. Increasing it will also increase the attack as the Bell plays an important part in the attack of a Rhodes. You can compensate it with the attack knob if necessary.

h- Attack amount: You can control how much attack is present in the sound. This is independant from the Bell sound, so when you increase the bell, you might want to decrease the attack at the same time to compensate the increase.

i- Release Volume: The release is the the sound captured after the note is released. That characteristic noise has been carefully adjusted to sound exactly as the one of the original instrument, but you can control its volume.

j- Tune: Each note can be tuned separately.

MIDI Control

Every keyboard has its own MIDI response.

Our MIDI mapper allows to adjust the response of the V Tines velocity by velocity if necessary, and we created a tool that does it automatically by analysing what you play.

Just repeat a few linear velocity repetitions and it will be all set and ready to play.

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MIDI panel

We created a MIDI response mapper to allow you to adjust your keyboard response and have the VTines respond just like you want.

If you know your keyboard response, you can draw it yourself and the smooth it out.

If you don't, you can use our automatic velocity detection. To use it, you can simply:

1- press record, then play a few velocities and try to be as linear as possible from the lowest velocity you can play to the highest that your keyboard can output,

2- then press record again and it will compute a compensated curve especially for your keyboard.

To refine the process, you can do a few different successive takes before hitting record again.

Sample player

VTines MK1 comes with its own sample player, the UVI Workstation 3(requires v3.0.0 or later).
We provide it for free with every library that you buy, you don't need to buy an expensive sampler to use our products. It works on Mac (10.7 or later) and PC (windows 7 or later), in standalone or as a plugin (VST / AU / AAX ) and in 64 bits only. You can find more info about it here.

Technical description

UVI Workstation v3.0.0 is required for the library to function properly, the V Tines will not work on windows XP, or OSX 10.6, it will not work either on a receptor.

We use the iLok system to protect our products and you can choose to register your license to your computer or to an iLok dongle.
If you decide to use an iLok dongle, both V1 and V2 are compatible with our products.
You can activate your license on up to 3 computers or iLok dongles at the same time and you can deactivate one and activate another as many times as you want.

Registration

Once your order is complete, you will be provided with a serial number.

You will then be able to register it to your iLok account from our website on this page (you need to be logged in to access this page). The whole process is described in the FAQ (instructions + screencast).